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吃閒飯

简吃闲饭 · 繁吃閒飯

Mandarin · pinyin chī xián fàn

to lead an idle life; to be a loafer

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Characters in this entry

吃: chī · eat; drink; suffer, endure, bear
閒: Look up this written character
飯: fàn · cooked rice; food; meal
闲: xián · fence, guard; defend; idle time
饭: fàn · cooked rice; food, meal

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–2–4 · chi1 xian2 fan4

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

吃閒飯 · find source passages ↗ · 吃闲饭 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

verb

to lead an idle life; to be a loafer or sponger

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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